Malaria and children: Progress in intervention coverage - Unicef

Countries need to collect, analyse and report
quality data to monitor the progress of quickly
evolving programmes and to adjust activities
to achieve major programme goals
Annex A
Data used in this report
A broad consensus among Roll Back Malaria
partners has been reached on a set of core indicators
(see table 2 in the main text) and standardized
data collection methods to ensure
consistency and harmonization in the malaria
information reported across different household
surveys. 1 Data on these core indicators
have been routinely collected through Multiple
Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic
Health Surveys since 2000 and are included in
the recently developed Malaria Indicator Surveys.
Results from these and other surveys are
maintained in the UNICEF global databases,
which are the main source of coverage data used
in this report. More information is available at
www.childinfo.org.
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys are nationally
representative, standardized sample surveys
to which UNICEF provides financial and technical
support. These surveys have been conducted
every five years since 1995. Since then nearly 200
surveys have been conducted worldwide, with the
latest round in more than 50 countries between
2005 and 2006 and nearly half gathering data on
malaria. This was the second round of surveys to
include a malaria module in endemic countries,
and the results have allowed for an analysis of
trends in malaria intervention coverage in a large
number of countries. More information is available
at www.childinfo.org.
Demographic and Health Surveys are nationally
representative, standardized household surveys
that are usually conducted every five years
with funding from the U.S. Agency for International
Development. These surveys are designed
to collect a variety of data on a broad range of
demographic and health issues and to be comparable
over time and across countries. A malaria
module has been included in malaria-endemic
countries since 2000, though data on malaria
prevention and treatment have been collected
since 1998. More information is available at www.
measuredhs.com.
Malaria Indicator Surveys were developed in
2004 by Roll Back Malaria Monitoring and Evaluation
Reference Group partners to supplement
the malaria data collected through Demographic
Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster
Surveys. The Malaria Indicator Surveys are
designed to be relatively quick and easy to conduct
and can be implemented at the national or
subnational level. In addition to the standard set
of core malaria indicators, these household surveys
also provide other key malaria information,
such as parasite infection prevalence and anaemia
prevalence. More information is available at
www.rollbackmalaria.org.
In addition, the AIDS Indicator Surveys funded
by the U.S. Agency for International Development
have included a harmonized malaria
module in their questionnaires, though these
household surveys collect data primarily on
household availability of insecticide-treated nets
and any types of nets. More information is available
at www.measuredhs.com.
Cause-specific mortality
Data on malaria-specific mortality were based
on the work of the Child Health Epidemiology
Reference Group, which was established in 2001
to estimate the distribution of deaths among
children under age five by cause. The reference
group is coordinated by the World Health
Organization’s Department of Child and Adolescent
Health and Development and supported
by its Evidence and Information for Policy Cluster,
with financial support from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation. The group has used
various methods, including single-cause and
multicause proportionate mortality modules. It
should be noted that the distribution of underfive
deaths by cause refers to the primary cause
of death.
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Malaria and children Annex A
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